Did David Tennant’s Turn As Kilgrave Accidentally Ruin ‘Doctor Who’?

Almost immediately after binge-watching all of Marvel’s Jessica Jones, I met up with one of my best friends who had also seen the show. There was a lot that she wanted to unpack about ground-breaking new Netflix Original, but there was one thing in particular that was on her mind.

“So, David Tennant…” she carefully started. “Was it just me or did he play Kilgrave—”

“Creepily close to how he played the Doctor on Doctor Who?” I finished for her.

Even the most casual Doctor Who fan has noticed the similarities between Tennant’s take on the Tenth Doctor and his devastatingly creepy turn as Kilgrave on Marvel’s Jessica Jones. On the surface, the two both wear sharply tailored suits, speak in an “Estuary English accent,” and even say similar lines with the same cadence on both shows. What makes these parallels all the more noticable is that Tennant is an elastic performer. He speaks with a Native Scottish brogue and has played everyone from Hamlet to Casanova to a hard-boiled detective (on both Gracepoint and Broadchurch) to Barty Crouch, Jr. Essentially, he’s got range.

Prior to the debut of Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Tennant was grilled about whether or not he thought Doctor Who fans would be upset to see him play a villain. Like any character actor, Tennant didn’t seem to see the big deal. He toldVanity Fair that “As an actor, there’s something liberating about being able to exercise all that darkness. All that side of life that you daren’t intrude upon. It’s just something very . . . What is the word? Is it liberating? Maybe exciting. There was some fairly intense stuff and some very grisly stuff.”

The problem, though, is that Tennant’s approach to Kilgrave is a funhouse mirror version of the Doctor wherein all the Time Lord’s seductive quirks now read as morally disturbing. RadioTimes reported that many Doctor Who fans “couldn’t cope” with seeing their beloved Tenth Doctor as a maniacal abuser. Here’s just one example of what they found on twitter:

Watching #JessicaJones is ruining David Tennant's run on #DoctorWho for me. Suddenly I'm seeing them less as companions and more as hostages

Intentional or not, David Tennant’s performance on Marvel’s Jessica Jones has shone a light on the creepy side of Doctor Who. As that fan pointed out — and as my friend and I immediately discussed — there are some deep connections between the two characters.

If you are unfamiliar with Doctor Who, it’s a zany British fantasy show about an alien named the Doctor. He’s a Time Lord and has spent centuries traveling through time and space inside his trusty TARDIS (aka that big blue police box). Since its inception in 1963, there have been 12 official iterations of the Doctor (and one “War Doctor”); Tennant played the Tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010. The series follows the Doctor as he roves about saving alien worlds and righting history. He is a man who can argue his way in and out of every room. He’s armed with psychic paper that shows people what he wants them to see. He often seems to have a hold on people and is shadowed by his past.

As you go deeper, you find that both the Doctor and Kilgrave seem to be able to live on the fringes, persuading people to follow their lead. Both characters even inspire conspiracy theories and debates about their very existence. But the clearest similarity between the Doctor and Kilgrave? The Doctor is almost always accompanied by a young and beautiful human women. There are occasional male companions, but by and large, his sidekicks are all gorgeous, brave, nubile young women who are useful in a fight.

Yes, like Kilgrave, the Doctor has a history of pulling talented young women away from their homes and treating them as pets. Russell T. Davies shepherded the show’s revival in 2005 and made a point of exploring the emotional reality of leaving your friends and family behind to follow a strange alien across time and space. There was friction, drama, and the Doctor had to reunite with one of his favorite companions, Sarah Jane Smith, decades after he had left her behind. Davies was aware that Doctor Who doesn’t work convincingly as a concept unless you believe that the opportunity of traveling anywhere in time and space is worth giving up your entire life for. He also understood that most men and women (and children) have responsibilities that they can’t just drop at the Doctor’s whim. He even created the character of Donna Noble to play as a sort of foil to the Doctor’s usual pattern. However, current show runner Steven Moffat has steered clear away from confronting the Doctor’s troubling track record in favor of turning him into a sort of wizard prince in a fairy tale. Amy Pond and Clara Oswald might have quirky day jobs and likable love interests, but they are both very special and conveniently orphaned — like a certain Jessica Jones.

At the heart of Doctor Who lies the idea that if the Doctor doesn’t have these noble young companions, he runs the risk of losing touch with his morality and his humanity. He likes being a hero when he has someone to show off for. Halfway through Marvel’s Jessica Jones, our heroine finds herself positioned as Kilgrave’s conscience. She’s torn. If she abandons her freedom and lives with Kilgrave, she can influence him to use his gifts for the better good. For his part, Kilgrave doesn’t see their time together as kidnapping, assault, or torture. He repeatedly tells Jessica that he “saved” her from her old life and that their glamorous life on the fringes was wonderful. It’s the same deal offered to most of the Doctor’s companions.

Let’s be clear: The Doctor is not a villain. He never raped, kidnapped, or assaulted any of his companions. He is not Kilgrave. Nevertheless, the Doctor does have a long, long history of convincing people to give up their lives and join him on his strange adventures. There is something unnerving about how he cycles through these comely companions and — how until the Davies era — he hardly gave them a glance back. Kilgrave isn’t exactly like the Doctor, but he is a convincingly portrayal of the Doctor’s dark shadow. Kilgrave is what it looks like when great power isn’t paired with an ounce of empathy and the Doctor’s saving grace is that he wants to help heal people.

So thanks, David Tennant. You kind of made Doctor Who seem creepy forever.